The Disappearances

Chapter 1: An Early Christmas Gift
Charlotte woke up looking up at the late afternoon sky. “Okay boys go take a look inside our new house” she turned to see a man, three boys, and a woman with a very large belly walk into the white Victorian style house that stood only a yard away from the old oak tree.
“Come on, wake up. Wake up!” Charlotte told her brother as she shook him awake.
“What? What is it?” he yawned as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“They’re here, they’re here” she squealed as she pulled him to his feet.
“Okay, okay. I’m coming, I’m coming. Don’t worry” he told her as she ran across the lawn to the front door.
She watched as her brother stumbled across the lawn causing his hospital gown to fall as he put his hands out to catch himself, “Come on, we have to hurry” she told him as she hauled him to his feet again and pulled him into the foyer of the house as the moving van backed into the driveway.
“Thanks” Charlotte’s brother coughed as he dropped to his knees.
“Hey mom, dad, is this the babies room?” one of the boys, the one with black hair asked when he ran to the top of the staircase.
“Which room, sweetheart?” the woman asked him while the man was with her helped support her while she climbed the stairs.
“I’ll be right back Charlotte told her brother while she followed them up the stairs.
“This room?” he asked as Charlotte looked around the room. There were men who carried a crib, a changing table, and boxes of various sizes into the room that was painted light yellow with a window looking out into the front yard.
“Mom, Dad! It’s snowing!” one of the other boys with blonde hair like the woman and Charlotte’s brother.
“Lucky we got here before it started snowing. If you need us to stay and help out we would be happy to” one of the men carrying boxes into the room offered as he walked down the stairs to get more things.
“That would be greatly appreciated thank you” the man standing next to the woman said.
“Oh. I think it’s time” the woman said as she almost fell to her knees, but the man caught her before she fell to the floor.
Charlotte ran down the stairs to her brother, “We have to go, now” she told him as she pulled him to his feet. When she touched his bare chest he felt as cold as ice, which meant they had to move fast.
The man who had been carrying boxes into the house stopped in the middle of the walkway when he saw them rush out of the house, “We’ll need you to stay” the woman told him as the man who Charlotte guessed to be her husband and the boy with black hair who was one of her sons helped her into their car.
“I can get us to where they’re going” Charlotte’s brother told her as he tried to catch his breath.
Charlotte nodded as she also tried to catch her breath. It felt as if something had suddenly wrapped around her throat. “I think we better hurry” she told him as she collapsed onto the concrete.
Before he said anything there was a blinding white light for a few minutes before the light faded and they were in the operating room, “How are you doing Danielle?” one of the doctors asked the woman who was lying on the operating table with a curtain over her stomach.
“Nervous, but excited mostly” the woman told the doctor.
“Alright Daniel we’re ready for you to come in now” the doctor told the man who was standing in the hallway. “Congratulations, it’s a boy” the doctor told them as he held the baby up for them to see.
“Hey” Charlotte said as she turned to look at her brother, but he was gone, “Hey, where did you go?” she called as she looked around the room, but then she remembered the doctor say that the baby was a boy, “he did it” she gasped for air as it became harder to breathe and everything began to go black as she passed out.
“It’s a girl” the doctor told them as she struggled to breathe.
“They’re really tiny” Charlotte read the person’s lips as she yawned.
“Yeah they are. Hey dad when can they come home?” someone else asked.
“I think they’ll be coming home in a few weeks when they’re big and strong enough” the man who was now her dad told her siblings.
“Oh. What’s that?” one of her siblings asked.
“That’s a tube that helps the baby breathe” one of the nurses said as Charlotte opened her eyes to see her three boys, one had black hair, and the other two boys had blonde hair looking down at her. She turned her head and reached her hand out toward her brother who did the same.
“Hey look” the boy with black hair said as he looked between the two of them.
“They must really love each other. I think we should move them closer to each other, what do you think John?” one of the nurses asked the man who was hooking Charlotte’s brother up to a lot of strange machines.
“I think it would be alright Brittany, let me just finish up here” he said as he finished attaching her brother to one more tube just like the one she was attached to.
“How are they?” Charlotte saw her dad ask one of the nurses as he walked into the room.
She tried to touch her brother’s hand, but something was stopping her. No matter how many times she smacked the clear wall she couldn’t touch his hand, “They both need help with their breathing, they both have small heart murmurs, the girl… Charlotte is that right” the doctor asked her dad.
“Yes, Charlotte Ann Usher” he told her.
“Right, Charlotte, her right leg is shorter than her left leg, and we have found that she is deaf” she looked over at Charlotte’s brother as she sighed and looked away quickly, “The boy… have either of you thought of a name yet?” she asked as she looked at him, he had been trying just as hard as Charlotte to touch her hand.
“I’m afraid we haven’t” her dad told her as he looked at the two of his children as they reached out for each other.
She nodded as she continued, “I’m afraid he needs a lot more help than we thought” the doctor told him as she walked over to the boy, charlotte thought it had been strange that she was able to touch her brother, which he hadn’t liked it one bit.
“What do you mean he needs more help than you thought?” Charlotte’s dad asked.
“He has asthma, diabetes, he also has a small tumor in his brain and he has leukemia” the doctor told him. He couldn’t say anything in response to the news he had been given. “There is something that is particularly interesting about Charlotte and her brother. Charlotte’s left eye is blue and her right eye is green, her brother’s left eye is green and his right eye is blue. Charlotte’s heart is on the left side of her body and her brother’s heart is on the right side of his body. They’re what are called mirror twins” the doctor told their dad.
The doctors had been surprised that even in his condition, Charlotte’s brother had been the first to go home. He had gone home three months after his birth. His parents as well as his three brothers had been ecstatic the day he had finally come home from the hospital. “Time for bed, boys” their mother whispered as she held her sleeping baby in her arms.
“Night mom” they whispered as they walked past them as they headed toward the stairs.
“Justin?” Danielle said as she placed her hand on her son’s shoulder.
“Yeah mom?” he had asked as he turned to face her.
“I was wondering if you could watch your brothers tomorrow. Your father and I are going to bring your sister home” she told him as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.
“Yeah, I can do that. What time were you guys going to pick her up?” he had asked her as Hanzi began to whimper in his mother’s arms.
“We’ll be leaving around noon tomorrow, we should be home around one or two do you think you can keep them under control for that long?” she asked her oldest as she rocked Hanzi back to sleep.
“Yeah I think I can manage” he told her as he turned to see Andre and Bryan turn into their rooms.
“Alright, but if you have any problems you can call either of us” she reassured his as she kissed his forehead.
“I will mom, good night” he said as he climbed the stairs.
“Good night sweetheart” she said as her husband gathered her and Hanzi into his arms.
“Hey little guy, your sister’s coming home tomorrow” Daniel Usher cooed to his baby boy as he kissed is wife.
“I think we better go up to bed” Danielle told her husband as she kissed him. They climbed the stairs slowly as she tried not to wake their baby.
The next day had been filled with the excitement of getting to meet Charlotte. “Okay, there’s leftover corn beef and cabbage in the fridge for lunch. Hanzi’s formula is on the door of the fridge. Boys I want you to be good for Justin, we’ll be back soon” she told her boys as she left the house with her husband.
“Bye” they all called from the front porch as their parents pulled out of the drive way.
“Okay, I’ll start making lunch. If either of you hear Hanzi wake up from his nap please tell me” Justin had told them before he headed into the kitchen.
“Justin?” Bryan asked as he looked up from the book he had been reading.
“Yeah, what is it?” he asked his younger brother when he turned toward him.
“Didn’t mom and dad put Hanzi down for his nap around one this morning?” he asked as he shut his book and set it on the coffee table.
“Yeah, what’s the problem with him still being asleep?” he asked as he inched toward the stairs slowly.
“Well he didn’t sleep long last night. He only slept for two hours before waking up. Last night it was like he woke up every two hours, he’s never slept this long” he told his older brother.
“Are you sure?” he asked as he walked back into the living room.
“Yes, I think you should go check on him to be sure that he’s okay” he told Justin as he watched his brother’s eyes grew wide with fear.
“I’ll be right back” he told him as he rushed up the stairs taking them by two. He skidded to a stop when he got to the closed nursery door at the end of the hall across from his parents’ bedroom. “Hanzi, hey buddy, how are you doing?” Justin cooed to his baby brother as he tickled him. Hanzi giggled as he looked up at his older brother.
“Is everything okay up here?” Andre asked as he walked into the nursery.
“Yeah everything’s perfectly fine. He was already awake” Justin told his younger brother as he carried Hanzi down the stairs. “Can you guys watch him while I make our lunch?”
“Yeah, how long do you think it will took make lunch?” Andre asked as he took Hanzi from his arms.
“Probably about twenty to twenty-five minutes” Justin assured Andre as he headed into the kitchen.
“Okay Hanzi lets go change your  diaper” Andre said as he walked with his baby brother in his arms back up to the nursery before laying him on the changing table, “You’re a stinky baby” Andre said playfully as he pinched the end of his nose.